Printer for off-line printing of subscript and superscript characters and coded vertical tab setting

ABSTRACT

A printer having provision for super-script and sub-script shifting of a typewriter support without having to line-feed the paper forward or backward, and for code signal controlling of this shifting structure. An electrically-controlled page printer having automatic page sensing and line metering combined with an adjustable vertical tab structure and incremental line-feeding, to execute appropriate desired vertical tabular increments in relation to page position in response to an electrical vertical tab input signal. Optional additions include visible indication of page position and line metering, electrical or mechanical page sensing, magnetic or photo-electric sensing of desired tab positions, and electrical code signal controlled structure for setting and un-setting the vertical tab structure.

United States Fatent 11 1 [111 3,738,472 Willcox June 12, 1973 54] PRINTER FOR OFF-LINE PRINTING OF 3,048,253 8/1962 Oldenburg et a1. 197 114 x SUBSCRIPT AND SUPERSCRIPT 2,471,588 5/1949 Sears 197/72 X 2,284,017 5 1942 Pitman 197 73 CHARACTERS AND CODED VERTICAL TAB 2,791,311 5/1957 Yerks et al. 197/114 SETTING 2/1962 Cetran et al. 197 114 [76] Inventor: Frederick P. Willcox, 565 Oenoke Rdg., New Canaan, Conn. 06840 [22] Filed: Sept. 2, 1970 [21] Appl. No.2 69,101

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 581,020, Sept. 21, 1966, Pat. No.

[52] U.S. Cl. 197/71, 197/81, 197/176,

197/189 [51] Int. Cl 841,] 25/24 [58] Field of Search 197/114, 120, 189,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 527,083 10/1894 Smith 198/81 1,787,574 l/193l Garbell 197/81 X 3,386,552 6/1968 Lorber et a1 197/20 3,091,321 5/1963 Ashworth 197/189 2,543,913 3/1951 Mabon et al..... 197/133 3,333,668 8/1967 Sausele..... 197/20 2,573,023 10/1951 Hull 197/189 2,832,455 4/1958 Davidson et a]. 197/114 X Primary ExaminerRobert E. Pulfrey Assistant ExaminerR. T. Rader Attorney-Homer R. Montague [57] ABSTRACT A printer having provision for super-script and subscript shifting of a typewriter support without having to line-feed the paper forward or backward, andfor code signal controlling of this shifting structure.

An electrically-controlled page printer having automatic page sensing and line metering combined with. an adjustable vertical tab structure and incremental line-feeding, to execute appropriate desired vertical tubular increments in relation to page position in response to an electrical vertical tab input signal. Optional additions include visible indication of page position and line metering, electrical or mechanical page sensing, magnetic or photo-electric sensing of desired tab positions, and electrical code signal controlled structure for setting and un-setting the vertical tab structure.

, 19 Claims, 54 Drawing Figures PAIENTEU Jun! 2 ma 3 sum near 22 8.472

PAIENIEuJum 2 ma saw our 22 -738.47-2

PATENTED 3.738.472

sum as or 22 mmm JUNI 2 ma sum near 22 3.138.412 JUMZIBTS PNEMEB sum 10 0F 22 PAIENIEDJuu i 21m SHEEI 1111i 22 mmm .um I 2 ma SEE! 13W 22 PATENIED JUN 1 2 ms SIEEI not 22 OPT/cs 0A! 6422/00;

0N CARE/146E TAPE READER, PERFORATOR, ETC.

SERIAL T KEYBOARD & O sERLAL IN L PARALLEL SERIAL OUT DIODE MATRIX CONvERTOR 4Ho\ 4l0 6 4425 KEYBOARD 4420} SELECTOR REsET CUT-OFF CONTROL TIMER -4H6 FIFAAHK l I 11 l I 10 8 4H8 SELECTOR PRINTING FUNCTIONSI LNON-PRINTING FUNCTIONS] 4| 8 L54 12 4 2 BACKSPACE MARGIN CLEAR Cw DRIVE 1/2 PWR HOR. TAB sET CCW DRIVE 1/2 PWR sUPSEii rRIPT W SUBSCRIPT sHIETF-flEvICE CONTROL 1 I DEVICE CONTROL 2 DEV. CONTROL 3 DEVICE CONTROL 4 INVALID CODE ,1

SENSOR l lll PATENIEUJUH 1 21% OFF SHEET 170i 22 H5 POWER SUPPLY :4206

42046 20 volurs DC \0 42 {r 42l6 I, 4mg 1 4214 42m POWER POWER 4.2|6 POWER COMMUTATOR A COMMUTATOR B COMMUTATOR c CW DRIVE 1/2 PWR CCW DRIVE 1 2 PWR CARRIAGE RETURN Ill V TAB INDICATOR RELEASE MARGIN SET MARGIN CLEAR HOR. TAB SET HOR. TAB CLEAR I I- AUXILLARY DEVICE EUXILIARY DEVIC SELECTOR SELECTOR 5 CONTROL SWITCHES 4H6 4H0 1REsET TIMER L KEYBOARD CUT-OFF RESET MAGNETS IMARGIN BELL OTHER AUXILIARIES CONTROL V TAB PAP ER SENSOR CIRCUIT BACKSPACE HORIZ. TAB

V-TAB STEPPER SUP ERSCRIPT SHIFT SUBSCRIPT SHIFT V-TAB SET V- TAB CLEAR d AUXILIARY-IV EvmE J 3-1/2 VOLT DC FOR SELECTOR CONTROL 

1. A typewriter line feed mechanism including a paper feed roller, a ratchet wheel for driving said roller, line-feed means having a pawl engageable with said ratchet wheel to effect stepwise feeding movements of said roller, resiliently biased detent means mounted on a common support with said pawl and engaging said ratchet wheel to establish definite angular positions thereof, and means for selectively rotating said support in either direction from a neutral position through a small arc, to position the paper for printing of subscript and superscript characters with reference to a line imprinted when said support is in the neutral positioN.
 2. A typewriter in accordance with claim 1, and code signal controlled means for energizing said selective moving means.
 3. A typewriter in accordance with claim 1, in which said common support is mounted for rotation about the axis of said feed roller.
 4. In a page printer for producing printing along a writing line on a recording material, a line feed mechanism including: A. roller means for line feeding said material past said writing line; B. guide means to guide said material to and from said roller means; C. a common support means for both said foregoing means, said support means being pivoted for limited rotation about an axis parallel to said writing line; D. means for selectively moving said support means in either direction from a neutral position through a small arc about said axis to position the material for printing of subscript and superscript characters with reference to a line printed when said support is in a neutral position, and E. means responsive to respective coded electrical input signals calling for a subscript or superscript positioning of said material for selectively energizing said selective moving means.
 5. A printer in accordance with claim 4, and code-signal controlled means for selectively energizing said selective moving means.
 6. In an input signal responsive page printer for producing printing along a writing line on a recording material, the combination including; A. support means for receiving a page of recording material and supporting said material at said writing line; B. line-feeding means for incrementally feeding said page of material past said writing line; C. page sensing means for sensing the passage of the top and bottom edges of each received page of material in relation to said writing line; D. an array of vertical-tab-position memory means which can be selectively conditioned to a set state or a cleared state, whereby each set memory means defines a vertical-tab-position for a page of material; E. conditioning means for setting and clearing said memory means; F. memory readout means responsive to said page sensing means, and said line-feeding means, for serially scanning said array to sense and provide an output signal for each set memory means sensed as it occurs in metered relationship to the incremental feeding of a page of material, said scanning being initiated when the top edge of a page of material is sensed, and terminated when the bottom edge of a page of material is sensed; and G. vertical tabulation control means for initiating line-feeding in response to an input signal calling for a vertical tabulation and subsequently terminating said line-feeding in response to an output signal from said readout means.
 7. A page printer in accordance with claim 6 wherein said conditioning means is responsive to electrical input signals calling for either a set operation or a clear operation, and wherein the output signal from said readout means is an electrical signal.
 8. A page printer in accordance with claim 6 wherein said input signals are coded electrical signals and the combination further includes control means for receiving and de-coding said coded signals and electrically activating the various operational functions of said printer in response to respective coded input signals therefor, including said conditioning means and said tabulation control means.
 9. A page printer in accordance with claim 7 wherein said conditioning means employs electro-magnetic means to condition said memory means to set or cleared states and said readout means magnetically senses each of the memory means that is set.
 10. In an input signal responsive page printer for producing printing along a writing line on recording material, the combination including: A. support means for receiving an inserted page of material and supporting said material at said writing line; B. line-feeding means for incrementally Feeding said page of material past said writing line; C. page sensing means for sensing the passage of the top and bottom edges of each inserted page of material in relation to said writing line; D. a vertical-tab-position memory array having a plurality of elements selectively conditionable to either a set state or a cleared state, whereby each set element defines a desired vertical tabular position; E. conditioning means for setting and clearing said elements; F. memory readout means for serially scanning said memory array to sense and provide an output signal for each set element sensed as it occurs in metered relationship to the incremental feeding of a page of material; G. driving means cooperative with said line-feeding means and responsive to said page sensing means for effecting said scanning, said scanning beginning from a zero position at one extremity of said memory array whenever said scanning is initiated by the sensing of the top edge of an inserted page of material; H. reset means also responsive to said page sensing means for terminating said scanning and effecting reset thereof when the bottom edge of said inserted page is sensed; and I. vertical tabulation control means for initiating line-feeding in response to an input signal calling for a vertical tabulation and subsequently terminating said line-feeding in response to an output signal from said readout means.
 11. A printer in accordance with claim 10 wherein said conditioning means is responsive to coded input signals calling for setting or clearing said elements, respectively.
 12. A printer in accordance with claim 10 wherein said conditioning means employs electro-magnetic means to effect setting or clearing of said elements.
 13. A printer in accordance with claim 10 wherein said memory readout means and said memory array are supported for relative motion therebetween, and said readout means is supported on a metering carriage for scanning motion past said memory, and wherein said driving means provides the scanning motion.
 14. A printer in accordance with claim 13 wherein said driving means is an electro-magnetic means to effect said scanning motion essentially simultaneously with each increment of line-feeding, and said reset means is a further electro-magnetic means.
 15. A printer in accordance with claim 13 wherein said printer is generally enclosed in a case, said case having a front wall and a line-feed increment scale mounted thereon, and said metering carriage has an indicator supported thereby which cooperates with said scale to indicate the metered vertical position of a page of material, both said scale and said writing line being visible from a normal viewing position in front of said printer.
 16. A printer in accordance with claim 14 wherein said conditioning means employs electro-magnetic means to effect setting or clearing of said elements, and said readout means magnetically senses each of said elements that are set.
 17. A printer in accordance with claim 14 wherein said input signals are coded electrical signals.
 18. A printer in accordance with claim 16 wherein said input signals are coded electrical signals and said conditioning means is responsive to respective coded signals calling for set and clear operations.
 19. A printer in accordance with claim 13 wherein said page sensing means is a metering roller closely positioned to said support means so as to be engaged by said inserted page of material as it is nipped between the roller and the support means, and wherein said metering roller is mechanically connected to said driving means to effect said scanning motion. 